Thriving Practice with Tracy Cherpeski

Physicians work nearly 58 hours a week, but only 27 involve actual patient care. The rest? Administrative tasks that do not align with why they went into medicine. For practice owners, this burden is yours to own, often by accident. In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta and Tracy Cherpeski break down the admin burden, explore the difference between moral distress and moral injury, and share the framework that works: stop, hand off to a person, or automate. 

They tackle why delegation is where most practice owners fail, how to tell the difference between a task that is hard to let go of and one that genuinely needs your clinical judgment, and the three critical questions to ask before buying any new tool. Plus: why sometimes the answer is not automation at all, it is another human. 

If you are a practice owner caught between knowing you should not be doing administrative work and feeling like you are the only one who can do it right, this conversation is for you. 

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Your healthcare practice looks organized from the outside. But behind the scenes, samples get lost, clinicians spend time hunting for things, and departments operate like they're held together by duct tape. Sam Yeruva, founder of PYCUBE, Inc., reveals why this happens and how operational intelligence fixes it. 

Operational intelligence means connecting data across your workflows so you can see bottlenecks and waste in real time. Sam shares why hospitals struggle despite being well-funded, how healthcare can use AI as an assistant (not a replacement for clinical judgment), and what the four pillars of any workflow actually are: people, process, tools, and training. 

In this episode, you'll hear about the time biopsies were lost in a loading dock, why 99% of clinicians want to spend more time at bedside, and Sam's powerful one-liner: "Respect the problem." He also explains why picking one strategic question and sticking with it beats trying to solve everything at once. 

Practical, honest, and deeply relevant for any practice owner thinking about how to scale sustainably. 

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What if the biggest threat to your practice is not a lack of patients, but administrative burden? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Damien Adler, a psychologist and co-founder of Zanda Health, who solved this problem by building systems instead of hiring more staff. For 14 years, Damien ran his psychology practice while creating the infrastructure that would eventually become Zanda Health. He automated scheduling, invoicing, documentation, and patient communication - so thoroughly that he and his wife could take month-long vacations to Europe while the practice ran itself. In this episode, Damien breaks down the three admin tasks that drain the most time and energy from healthcare practices, why automation actually frees your brain to think and lead, and how to incorporate AI safely without compromising patient privacy. You'll also hear about the hospitality mindset that transforms patient experience, why your brain works on open loops even when you're resting, and exactly where to start if you're overwhelmed by the idea of automating your practice.  

Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways. 

To request the replay of the Roundtable: AI & Automations for the Smart Practice, click here.  

Resource Mentioned: “The 9 Secrets of Successful Health Practices” http://zandahealth.com/ThrivingPracticePod   

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Launching an event or retreat for your practice can feel daunting—from the first spark of an idea all the way through registration going live. In this SNACK episode, Tracy Cherpeski and Miranda Dorta turn the mic around and walk through the entire event-planning process, revealing what systems they built, what they reuse versus rebuild, and the critical mistakes that taught them how to do it better. 

Tracy and Miranda share their operational flow, how they use data to decide whether an event idea is worth pursuing, and the specific systems that prevent small details from falling through the cracks. They discuss the CSV export-import mishap that created chaos mid-planning, how they use Notion to keep everything centralized, and why the "pause before running" principle prevents 90 percent of their operational mistakes. 

Whether you are planning your first roundtable, masterclass, or retreat, the principles they share will save you time, reduce stress, and help you show up fully present for your attendees. 

Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways. 

 

Join us at the AI & Automations for the Smart Practice Roundtable August 18, 2026.  

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Here's a question most practice owners don't ask their accountant: Do I actually owe this much? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski talks with Rachel Michaelov, an Enrolled Agent and tax strategist who works exclusively with high-earning healthcare professionals. Rachel is the founder of Empire Tax Advisors and Practice Wealth Partners, and she has one mission: help doctors and dentists stop overpaying their taxes.  Rachel shares why most healthcare providers work with reactive CPAs instead of proactive tax strategists, the three most expensive mistakes she sees practice owners making, and strategies like cost segregation and R&D credits that could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars. She walks through a real example: a doctor with a $1.2 million tax liability who ended up with a $24,000 refund.  If you've ever felt like financial stress is stealing your time, your peace of mind, or your ability to reward your team, this conversation is for you. Rachel gets real about why this matters for your life, not just your spreadsheet.   

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What if the thing blocking your practice growth isn't ambition or intelligence, but infrastructure?  In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski shares what she learned at the American Association of Medical Society Executives conference—a crystallized insight about why sustainable growth depends entirely on the deliberate, measurable foundation you build before (and while) you scale.  Hear how to identify your practice's specific bottlenecks, why readiness isn't a destination but a choice, and how to think strategically about systems, delegation, and tools (like AI) so they actually serve your practice instead of creating more chaos.  For practice owners wrestling with how to grow without burning out, this episode offers both the philosophy and the practical framework to build differently. 

Join us August 18, 2026 (or request the replay): AI, Automations & The Smart Practice: A Private Roundtable 

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How much of your team's day disappears into phone calls, faxes, and data entry? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Clark Van Oyen, founder of Cortico Health — a company that has helped nearly 10,000healthcare professionals reduce administrative burden through smart automation and better workflow design. 

Clark's journey began with a single pediatric clinic drowning in 800 phone calls a day. After moving booking online, the calls all but disappeared — and the practice grew from 12 physicians to 22 in just 18 months. Today his mission is to isolate, understand, and eliminate anything that pulls providers away from patient care. 

You'll hear why scheduling eats up about 40 percent of support staff time, where admin burden hides in plain sight, why AI phone systems fully resolve only about half of patient calls, and the single most valuable habit a practice owner can build: holding vendors accountable for outcomes, not methods. Clark also shares the free fixes hiding on your practice website. 

If you've ever wondered whether your practice really needs AI — or just needs the right assessment first — this conversation is for you. 

Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways. 

 Want to keep the conversation going? Join us for a free AI roundtable featuring Dr. Sarah Baldwin, a physician who has used automation to reshape her own practice. We'll talk through how to decide which tools actually earn a place in your practice — and which ones don't. Save your spot on August 18, 2026, Register here at PracticeSuccess.co/SmartPractice 

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You survive a hard season of practice ownership and assume smooth waters are ahead. Then a new stage of growth arrives — a bigger team, a new location, more patients — and suddenly you're right back in the messy middle. In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta turns the tables on Tracy Cherpeski to ask why practice growth cycles instead of moving in a straight line. 

Tracy unpacks the difference between cycling back through a hard season and actually losing ground, why new growth tends to restart the hard parts of practice ownership, and how a solo neuropsych practice's growth into a two-location, 20-plus-person team exposed gaps that “we're all adults here” couldn't fix. She also shares a personal story about getting knocked around by ocean waves that became a surprisingly useful metaphor for resistance versus surrender. 

If you're a healthcare practice owner in a hard season right now, this conversation is a reminder: it's not regression, it's information. 

Episode Referenced  

The Alchemy of Change: What Burnout Is Really Telling You About Your Practice, EP 260 

 

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What if the biggest risk in your practice is the one sitting quietly in a policy binder you haven’t opened in two years? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski talks with Dr. Natasha Guess, founder of Guess Compliance Consulting, about why healthcare compliance is an operational system — not a legal checkbox. 

Born and raised in Guyana, South America, Natasha saw what happens when healthcare structure is missing — and built a career helping small and mid-sized practices in the U.S. and Canada protect their patients and their businesses. She shares the three compliance gaps she finds in nearly every practice, why your vendor agreements deserve a quarterly review, how growth quietly creates new exposure, and the one step you can take this week to strengthen your foundation. 

Whether you’ve been putting off a compliance review or you’re not sure where your gaps are, this conversation makes the whole topic feel manageable — and gives you a clear place to start. 

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What’s the single most costly communication breakdown in your practice? Chances are it’s happening before a patient ever walks through your door. 

In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Danny Bobrow, a healthcare marketing consultant who has spent more than 35 years helping dental and medical practices grow — not just by generating leads, but by helping teams turn those leads into loyal, kept appointments. 

Danny introduces the concept of “missed moments” — the small communication failures that quietly cost practices thousands — and shares his Persuasion Blueprint framework built around three Cs: caring, connection, and collaboration. He explains why the first 30 seconds of a phone call can make or break a patient relationship, why enthusiasm is a tool most teams either misuse or skip entirely, and what mountaineering taught him about leading a team under real pressure. 

If you’ve ever wondered why your front office feels disconnected from the care you deliver clinically — or why patients aren’t converting even when your marketing is working — this conversation offers a clear and refreshing path forward. 

Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways. 

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